In Between
by Tashilover
Summary: A collection of April/Merlin drabbles.
1. Chapter 1

Merlin's eyes flutters when he kisses.

It was odd, April mused, of all things she assumed. She knew most of the gods in Everworld were selfish, power hungry fools. She knew most of the humans in Everworld, were simple folk who rather pray to their foolish dieties than take arms themselves.

To realize Merlin was a romantic at heart threw her.

It was an accident really. The old man bent down to kiss her goodnight- a chaste peck on the cheek- when a rat suddenly scurried across April's feet, causing her to gasp and turn her head.

The connection only lasted less than a second. Merlin pulled away quickly, stepping back. "Pardon me," The wizard coughed, a slight blush appearing underneath his beard. "A thousand apologies."

"It's okay," April squeaked, almost as embarrassed as him. "Stuff happens."

"Yes, well, goodnight young miss. I'll see you in the morning," And with that, Merlin quickly turned and walked down the hallway. He didn't look back.

April went into her room, grateful Christopher hadn't seen that. He would never let her live it down. Sighing, the redhead jumped into bed, pulling the animal skin blankets up to her chin.

They mutely reminded her of Merlin's beard.

()

A/N: I think I am the only Merlin/April fan on the planet. Am I wrong? Probably not.

Are drabbles suppose to be under a hundred words? R/R peeps.


	2. Chapter 2

Inside I wanted to cry. I haven't cried in years; the pains of several lifetimes have numbed me far from crying. I was sad to lose Galahad, my friend, the noble knight to something as simple as blood loss. The knight had experienced so much, fought so many battles only to die softly on an operating table.

"I am making a potion to ease his suffering," I say out loud. I add another ingredient to my bowl, crushing it into powder. "There is little we can do now. His blood has run out."

"We can at least try," The dark skin boy, Jalil snapped at me. "At least sew up his wound."

I choose to hold my tongue. These children, as intelligent as they were, couldn't seem to grasp simple subjects. Sewing up the wound was going to do anything, it was too late. But they were young and they were naïve. I could let their blatant attitude slide.

"Transfusion," The girl, April said. "We could…okay, I mean, we need two hollow needles. And some kind of tube."

I pause in my mixing. The word 'transfusion' caught my attention. In times of need, I had often 'transfused' objects together to suit my needs. But these children did not use magic. So what were they talking about? "What is this transfusion?" I ask her, slightly curious.

"Taking blood from a healthy person and giving it to a sick person," She says to me in one breath. "But we need hollow tubes. Never mind, sorry."

I all but gape at her. _Taking blood from a healthy person and giving it to another? _Was she talking about some blood ritual?

"The pens," Jalil pointed to the girl's bag. "The bic pens in your backpack."

These children from another world always spoke in odd speech but I always understood their meanings. But now, I didn't understand them at all. And there was very little that I don't know. Almost forgetting my potion, I watch as the girl whip out a small off-white stick from her bag.

"No way," The village idiot, Christopher moaned.

"Way, I'm type O. Universal donor. Someone get a fire going. We need to boil everything," The redhead began rolling up her sleeves, staring down at Galahad's bloody torso with pale aversion. "Get me a needle and thread."

I could see she wasn't up to this. "I can sew a wound, girl," I say to her, feeling a bit left out.

She nods at me, obviously relieved. "Wash your hands in the, um, wine I guess."

Now that I was involved, this child, this _girl _was telling me what to do. Yet at the same time, I could sense what she was saying was not full of manure. Biting back any objection, I begin washing my hands thoroughly in the red wine.

It smelled. It was sticky. What was the point in this?

As I dry my hands on a clean cloth, I watch as the girl shook out four little red stones into her hand. "Okay, um, let's try, um…four Advil," She said before pressing it against Galahand's lips. "Get some light in here, can't see a thing."

The girl, the children definitely knew something I didn't. The males Jalil, David, and Christopher did what she was demanding of them, without question. It was a bit…exhilarating to watch a female handle such a situation without the aid of monarchial power behind her.

"What is the point of the washing?"

The girl looks back at me and I frown as I realize she forgot I was there. "To get rid of the germs."

What?

She winces. "Uh, diseases and infections are caused by germs- animals so small you can't see them. And the alcohol gets rid of them. Speaking of which…" She grabs the wine herself and began washing her hands.

I was looking at my own hands. _Animals so small you can't see them? _Is that even possible?

I had to remind himself that these children were from the old world. A world in which magic had abandoned them. Without their gods, how do humans adapt? How do they evolve? But they did. Despite the odds, they did.

I take the needle and thread and begin sewing. I use a small amount of magic to help with the healing process but Galahad has bled too much for any of this to help. I hope the girl knows what she's doing.

I finish within seconds and I watch carefully of the redhead's movements. She takes off the leather band from around her waist and quickly wraps it around her arm. She tightens it. She keeps curling and uncurling a fist of her bound arm and slowly, blue veins show upon her pale skin. The boy, David, does the same for Galahad's arm, summoning the veins by simply tightening the skin.

How…?

I don't know what they intend to do next but it is obvious it may not be pretty. The girl cleans the crook of her elbow with a boiled rag. She looks desperately at the dark boy and they both look sick to the core. "Jalil?"

"Oh man, oh man, don't move April." He brings the knife which he so carefully hovered over a flame down upon her skin.

I jump when a spray of blood suddenly shoots out of the girl's arm. Jalil jumps back with a cry as the crimson liquid douses him in the face. The girl-_April_- simply stops the flow by placing one finger on the wound.

The idiot makes a rude comment but there is determination on his face as he takes that little hollow stick and maneuvers it into her wound. Blood spills out on the other side.

I feel my breath catch. April, supported by the idiot and Jalil move next to Galahad. She puts the tube into the knight's newly wound on his arm. Her life force flows into in Galahad. I didn't think it was at all possible.

"I have women's blood in me now," Galahad grumbles slightly.

"Yeah, that's exactly how it is," April snaps at him. "You get women's blood in you and your willy falls off."

I almost choke. Oh gods, if Galahad becomes a woman-!

"She's kidding!" Jalil quickly intercepts, throwing the girl a glare. "Blood is blood. It doesn't matter if it man, woman, black or white. It's put into types, but not the way you think."

I have no idea what he just said. But I understand the gist of it. Blood is blood.

Before I can ask a question, the idiot asks it first, "How long do we wait?"

"Keep going until I start feeling faint," April whispers.

I barely stand to blink. I watch in muted fascination this act of…not magic, science. I, Merlin the Magnificent, even with all the magicks at my possession, I held no such power to save Galahad's life. But these children, children with no knowledge of how to grow their own crops, how to use a sword properly- using such simple concepts of the human body…!

Could I follow such an act? Take the blood of another and place it in a sickly one? How much washing would I have to do to ensure that these _germs _will not interfere?

For a half hour no one moved. Barely no one spoke. April quietly whispered to herself over and over again, "No gangrene, no gangrene…" But she quickly quieted when the idiot told her, "You should really be more worried about aids, _Mimi_."

David was sweating something fierce and when a drop of perspiration almost fell on April's arm, he jerked back so violently he almost dislodged the stick. He quickly wiped his face clean, muttered an apology to the group and retook his place.

Jalil kept hissing strange words. "Penicillin. Morphine. Aspirin. Vaccination."

April nods. "Okay, I think that's enough." She carefully pulls back and her friends quickly wraps her arm and Galahad's with clean cloth.

I touch Galahad's forehead and I am shocked to my core to find his fever has gone down. His breathing is a lot less harsh and there is color in the knight's cheeks.

"Doctor!" The idiot thrusts out his hand to Jalil.

The boy smirks and takes it. "Doctor!"

The idiot grins at David. "Nurse."

April stands. Only I notice how her face suddenly pales and she sways on her feet. I rush forward, grabbing her as her knees suddenly give.

I feel her spirit leave and I fear the worse. She's dead. She has given Galahad too much blood and has died in the process. What is the point of this transfusion if the person giving the blood dies?

I check her pulse and find, albeit weak, but there.

I look to David. "What has happened?"

He motions me to place her on the table next to Galahad. "She just fainted," He tells me as I place the girl down. "She'll be weak but she's fine. Once she wakes up, it'll be a good idea that she eats something."

I nod, taking everything he is saying to memory.

As I press a cool rag against the girl's forehead, I stare down at her pale face. Never in my life have I been so bewitched by a woman.

From the side, I could see Senna Wales glaring disdainfully.

()

A/N: This is actually my favorite scene in the whole series. R/R please!


	3. Chapter 3

April feared of forgetting.

She understood the full consequences of her decision to stay in Everworld, but that did not mean she had to like it. She knew how much she was giving up. Her family, her friends, her culture.

It was a choice she wasn't sure she'll come to regret. When she's fifty-five, will she remember what her mother looked like? Will she remember what her dad's voice sounded like, the names of her friends, or her favorite passages from the bible?

Merlin had found the girl in the dwarf King's library, hastily jotting down long lists of scripture onto parchment. She looked almost desperate- her eyes red from crying. She chewed on the bottom of her lip as she stared out into space, before writing out a few more lines, murmuring to herself.

"Miss April?"

April jumped at the sound of Merlin's voice. Her elbow struck the ink pot next to her, spilling the black iron all over her work.

"No!" She cried out, trying to save the parchment from damage. "No, no, no!"

Merlin waved a hand and the spilled ink magically went back into the ink pot. April breathed a sigh of relief, quickly repositioning the pot away from where it couldn't be knocked into again.

"I apologize for scaring you," Merlin spoke. "I came to tell you that dinner has been served."

"Huh?" April looked up. She then realized his words and she shook her head. "Uh, no, no thanks. I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat my dear," Merlin walked to her table. "Can your writing wait?"

She shook her head again. "No, it can't."

Merlin eyed the pieces of parchment. He could not read the writings. He could, however, can see April's handwriting becoming sluggish the further on she wrote. It was obvious she had been here for quite a while. "May I ask what you are doing?"

"Not forgetting," April sighed, rubbing her tired eyes.

Merlin frowned. "Not forgetting what?"

She shrugged. "Names, places, people. Of course, I don't think anybody here in Everworld is going to care about Mickey Mouse or that he had a clubhouse."

"Then why write about it?"

"I don't know," She sighed again, wiping at her face. "I just feel… like if I forget something, then I have denied this world of something spectacular. I don't know. For the past hour I've been writing down all the songs I know. I can't believe how much I've forgotten…"

Merlin wasn't sure what to say. What do you say to someone who literally left their world behind? And considering her world was much different than his, the grief was probably much more profound.

He picked up one piece of parchment, silently looking it over. "I cannot read this," He told her. "Will you tell me what this is?"

She smiled sadly. "It's a song- one of my favorites. It's from my childhood."

"Will you sing it?"

April blushed. As an actress, she was used to public performances and on-the-spot improvisation. So far most of the songs she has sung in Everworld had been to save lives, distract, or to mourn. This was the first time someone asked her to sing, simply for the sake of hearing.

She starts, almost shakily, her mind going over the notes. Soon, her voice is filled with confidence, loud and clear.

_Somewhere out there_

_Beneath the pale moonlight_

_Someone is thinking of me_

_And loving me tonight_

_Somewhere out there_

_Someone singing a prayer_

_That we'll find one another_

_In that big somewhere out there_

_And even though I know how very far apart we are_

_It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star_

_And when the night wind starts to sing a wholesome lullaby_

_It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky_

_Somewhere out there if love can see us through_

_Then we'll be together somewhere out there_

_Out where dreams come true._

April's voice fades. She feels a bit drained. She quickly wipes the few tears that had cascaded out of her eyes. She looks to Merlin, wondering if he enjoyed the song, or like most Everworld citizens, found it cute but confusing.

His eyes were closed, his mouth slightly opened. For a moment April thought she had put him to sleep. He blinked, his blue eyes slightly glossy. "That was…" He swallowed. "Different."

April almost snorted. "Yeah, I guess so. It's not like the killing songs I have to sing to the Vikings-"

"No, no, you misinterpret me," Merlin reached over, grasping her hand. "You have to understand, when people sing here, it's to either praise their chosen god, savior or warrior," He huffed. "It becomes all very tedious after the fifth hundredth verse of 'Zues will smite thee.' Your song is a welcome change and you sing beautifully."

April blushed again. Suddenly very self conscious, she pulled her hand away from his, her eyes cast down. It was one thing to hear Jalil or David to tell her she sang beautifully (they were guys. What do they know?) but when Merlin said it, she knew he meant it from the bottom of his heart.

It's quite embarrassing, to be honest. "Thank you," She murmured.

Merlin smiled at her. "Will you sing another? And this time," He pulled a blank piece of parchment to him. "I will help record."

()

A/N: Wasn't so satisfied about this chapter, but it needed to be written. R/R please!


	4. Chapter 4

He was watching them silently from a corner. Really, it was to be expected. After the battles they fought together, the trust they held in each other, Merlin knew eventually it would lead down this road.

He was in his room at the time, stirring his cauldron of well needed medicine. The specific instructions from Jalil had the old wizard spending his days manipulating small metals and woods, bending them into intricate shapes only one could occur through magic.

Today, Merlin was making something the dark boy called 'morphine.'

Fascinating stuff. Merlin spent the better part of the day hunched over his cauldron, adding ingredients when needed. It wasn't until near the end did he realize he needed more.

He walked down the halls, his mind mulling over the million and one things he has learned over the past few months. It thrilled him endlessly, learning new sciences, new magics. For the longest time, he felt as if he learnt everything there was to know in Everworld. How very arrogant of him.

He turned down a hallway and at the corner of his eye, he caught the sight of two people in _very _close contact. He was about to clear his throat loudly enough to remind them they were in public space when he recognized them.

It was a rather sweet moment. David held April's face in his hands, kissing her softly. Every time they parted, they'd smiled at each other, their eyes twinkling in amusement and affection.

Merlin felt his stomach clenched painfully. Slowly, almost deliberately he pulled himself back around the corner, hiding himself from them.

His thoughts on morphine, gone. The giddy feeling he got when learning something new, gone. All was replaced was an odd empty feeling and a deep unearthly cramp.


End file.
